July 7, 2009

"When it comes to a potential presidential run, the USA TODAY poll displays both Palin's strength in the Republican base and her weakness among the swing voters who usually decide national elections. Republicans by 71%-27% say they would be likely to vote for her if she ran for president in 2012, while independents by 51%-44% would not."

Hmm. She writes a resignation speech worthy of an angry high school breakup letter--quits her job because being Governor of Alaska is too hard when people inquire into her ethics--and is in full throat about the mean, mean, media who asks her questions and refuses to swoon when she flutters her eyes and says "you betcha." And the Republicans like her MORE THAN EVER.

MORE OFTEN "guts" is NOT enough! And it's NOT enough to run a country (i.e. it takes "guts" to "push the button????") Palin quit her mayor job, now quit her Governor job--and that takes GUTS??? I think that takes a lot of FRAUD and stupidity! If you run as Governor, or ANYTHING, you should FULFILL that office! Does it take GUTS to QUIT the Presidency?! Because if she would have been one heartbeat away (and hopefully NEVER again be that close) what if she didn't like what people were saying about her??? She would just up and quit? Quitting is NOT OKAY! I hope she goes away and just keeps fishing, chopping turkey heads off...saying dumb irrational things, and leaves ALL of us alone now!! Yuck!

First Anonymous, I won't use the all caps of Second Anonymous (what is this post that attracts the anonymous commenters?), but I have to agree with their approach. Saying that Palin has "guts" and that is enough is moronic. Sorry, but it is. The woman doesn't understand the first thing about policy, and doesn't care. And while we may have all sorts of policy problems given us by very smart and wonkish people, I don't think we have many good solutions from idiots and lightweights. And Palin qualifies for both, I am afraid.

I haven't followed this very closely, though I have kept up with it somewhat. Honestly, it comes as no surprise. Listening to NPR today, many people in Alaska, of both parties, are simply embarrassed and humiliated by Palin and hope that she will just go away. I think that speaks volumes, and the fact that her resignation represents "guts" on Palin's part is, well, stupid. Sorry. But it is.

Another shining example of a well-reasoned argument from a Palin supporter, thanks Uriah.

One of the main reasons Gov. Palin gave to leave was all the costs of the investigations. It now seems that that David Murrow, a spokesperson for the Governor's Office has discounted that. The monies she talked about were just the salaries of people employed in the legal dept of the State, and they would have been paid anyway.

So that appears to be problematic at best, a lie at worst. Either way, the woman seems more like one of those CEO's that took the money and ran rather than the "America first" flag lapel pin wearing person we were presented with in the campaign.

I know Sullivan is perhaps obsessed with Palin, but one of the things he has tracked over the last year have been the "odd lies of Sarah Palin," or the easily debunked lies that she tells when she has to know that they are not true. And the list is just amazing. Often very little things that she lies about. Something very wrong with that.

I think that some of Sullivan's gotchas have been debunked on other sites and it is clear that some of what was said about Palin was BS. I trust Factcheck and their lists show her as no worse than any of the other candidates.

That being said, I wouldn't vote for her now.

That survey data comes as no surprise. I know many on the right that really like her and are able to articulate some valid reasons. The fact that her support among "independents" is so lukewarm, combined with her inability to handle the press, says that she will probably not be a serious candidate. She is just too polarizing.

Yeah, I am not so convinced. I have seen her lie on numerous occasions, and have yet to see her actually retract or apologize for those misstatements. I truly believe she lies because she likes it, and there is nothing else there. No "there, there" as it were.

I think the survey data should surprise you. I guess that is the problem. The right has so been taken over by the anti-intellectual, anti-science, and anti-reason, that we are in Stephen Colbert satire territory. If this isn't surprising, it is still incredibly scary. They would have elected this woman without any qualifications, and would do so today even when those qualifications are even less than last year. That tells me they would have no problem with endangering our nation. And that is exactly what John McCain did last year. He demonstrated that he was perfectly willing to put a highly unqualified, rather crazy person, in the second seat if that would get him the presidency. He could have selected a reasonable conservative who was competent. He chose otherwise.

If she handled her staff better, she would make me sad rather than scared. There are plenty of publicly semi-coherent politicians who are able to either take advice or be bullied by their advisors and senior staffers, who supervise most of the actual work that goes on in their positions, thus discharging their duties competently. They don't often do well in campaigns for federal office, since House and Senate candidates need to be more telegenic. Still, dubious public speaking skills don't necessarily translate into bad governance.

But everything I've read about Palin calls into question the quality of people she would be able to retain, and whether she would submit to being advised by those who are masochistic enough to stick around. You need to be decisive in a position of high office, but insisting on making nearly every decision with no more resources than what you already know is a disastrous way to govern.

About Me

I borrowed my blog alias from my faithful and excellent dog. He didn't seem to mind sharing the name. I live with my spouse in Oklahoma where we enjoy coffee, football, beer, coffee, yoga and grilling on our porch. Yes, all at the same time.

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